24,000 run for a cause, kick off Hyundai's 10th year

MANILA, Philippines - Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI), exclusive Philippine distributor of Hyundai vehicles, kicked off its 10th year yesterday at the Quirino Grandstand with a historic early morning “Run for a Cause” to benefit four iconic humanitarian foundations – Gawad Kalinga, Haribon, Habitat for Humanity, and St. Scholastica’s Priory.

“We are a responsible corporate citizen working in unity with our stakeholders towards nation building,” said Fe Perez-Agudo, HARI president and CEO.

“HARI takes to heart and localizes Hyundai Motor Company’s (HMC) inspiring worldwide vision, which is to promote an auto culture that serves its customers by developing human-centered and environment-friendly technological innovation.”

Haribon has been an unrelenting pioneer and crusader for the Philippine forest for three decades. To pace up Haribon’s “1 Million Hectares of Rainforest by 2020” advocacy, HARI launched reforestation initiatives in different parts of the country, starting with last year’s tree-planting activities in Boracay’s Yapak Forest and in Cavinti, Laguna.

This year, HARI is donating to Haribon the HARI Ecovan, a Hyundai H100 van that is custom-built and a fully equipped mobile learning laboratory envisioned to visit schools all over the country to educate the youth in becoming responsible stewards of the environment.

To salute the achievements of Sister Mary John Mananzan, one of Women Deliver’s Top 100 Most Inspiring People in the World, and widely known advocate of women’s rights and maternal health, HARI forged a partnership with St. Scholastica’s Priory to put up the first 25-bed Maternity Mission Hospital with a pediatric ward and laboratory services in Catarman, Northern Samar, one of the country’s poorest provinces.

“The Institute of Women’s Studies of St. Scholastica’s Priory is very pleased to be part of this great run which benefits our project,” said Sr. Mary John.

Gawad Kalinga, meantime, has achieved iconic status as a model for building communities. With a roadmap to ending poverty for five million Filipino families by 2024, GK has engaged thousands of volunteers to work in the country’s poorest and remotest communities.

HARI has been a long-time partner of GK in empowering people to build for themselves beautiful, healthy, secure, eco-friendly, and productive communities. HARI and its dealership network have helped GK establish the Hyundai Sibol schools in Southern Leyte and Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, and donated vehicles to aid GK’s mobility in providing services nationwide. The first Hyundai Village will be established in Caloocan.

This year, HARI is closely collaborating with GK’s latest initiative, the Center for Social Innovation (CSI), which aims to create sustainable livelihood, food sufficiency, environment, health and education projects in GK communities.

Since 1965, Habitat for Humanity has been closely working with the homeless and the poor to equip them with the knowledge and skills to solve their housing problems, while adapting to the specific needs and conditions of each locality. HFH today works in 92 countries, assisting communities through funding, training in good governance, project and finance management, community development, construction and maintenance, and health education.

HARI’s alliance with HFH brings to fruition the HARI mission to provide marginalized families decent living spaces that they can call home.

“Beyond providing the structure, we want these homes to be in a nurturing and thriving environment to ensure the sustainability of Filipino families,” said Agudo.

“For 2011, our joint efforts will see the construction of our initial batch of homes for the poor, uplifting the condition of over 100 marginalized families.”

Running strong, running for real

Held at the historic Quirino Grandstand, the five- and ten-kilometer run yesterday is a milestone in itself. It is the first of its kind, not only in the Hyundai global community, but also in the local automotive industry. The run, fully sponsored by HARI, had participants from all walks of life registering for free, allowing running aficionados and supporters of the four beneficiary foundations to engage in the sport and/or express their support for the advocacies.

HARI tapped the social media sites and expected at most 2,000 to register. However, the final number ballooned to over 24,000.

The overwhelming numbers that flooded Quirino Grandstand as early as 4:30 a.m. included members of the diplomatic corps, government, business, and non-government organizations. 

TV personalities and fitness enthusiasts in their own right, Regine Tolentino and Boom Gonzales, hosted the pre-run program, with St. Scholastica’s Sister Mananzan leading the opening prayer.

Invited to gun start the different waves of runners for the two categories were Korean ambassador to the Philippines, HE Lee Hye-min, Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez with husband, actor Richard Gomez, Manila Councilor Niño de la Cruz, and HARI VIPs, led by chairman emeritus Richard L. Lee, chairman Edward S. Go, vice chairman Conrad G. Marty, president and Agudo.

HARI dealers from the 36-strong dealership network and their customers, represented by Team Hyundai and a large contingent of running aficionados, all enthusiastically participated in the run.